Chen Xin sighed with emotion, "You really have ideas, then, these are two batches of barrels, but why are there still errors between wrought iron and steel?" ”

Tian Yi said with some embarrassment, "It's all because of the poor supervision of his subordinates, this is a mold made by two masters respectively, so this situation occurred." Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info”

Chen Xin was strange and quietly asked Bai to make some high-precision measuring tools, which were handed over to the workshops very early, and ordered all the craftsmen of the ordnance factory to use new weights and measures and tools in the future. And every once in a while, you have to come to yourself to replace it with a new one, in case the tool wears out and affects the accuracy. Why is there such a situation where the accuracy of the replacement person has changed again?

Hearing Chen Xin's question, Tian Yi said helplessly, "My lord, the craftsman who made the mold is already a master, he has become accustomed to visual inspection with his eyes, and his subordinates will supervise it in the future, and there will be no more situations where tools are not used." ”

Chen Xin nodded and said that he knew, but in his heart he was constantly amazed at the master's skill, he could get it to this level without a ruler, and he could get it to this extent with what he saw, which was too powerful.

Tian Yi continued to explain, "My lord, we have already test-fired, the cast wrought iron barrel can shoot 200 rounds without exploding, the steel barrel is even more powerful, casting 15 barrels, firing 500 rounds without exploding. It's just that the inner wall of the cast barrel is relatively rough, and the chamber needs to be polished and smooth. ”

With three steel barrels with different feel in his hand, Chen Xin asked, "How many rounds can you shoot if you don't polish the chamber?" ”

"No one dares to try wrought iron, about 50 rounds of steel."

"And how fast is the barrel cast?"

"After the mold is made, as long as it is not operated improperly, it can be used hundreds of times in a row. The work of casting is also easy to do, as long as you are careful and have a lot of strength, you will soon be able to get started.

What is more troublesome is that the manufacture of molds requires skilled craftsmen to do it themselves, and it is not easy to manufacture.

Before casting the barrel, it is also necessary to brush a layer of mixed material and dry it in the shade for 5 days, which wastes a lot of time.

Add to that the two days of grinding the chamber and assembling the other parts after the barrel is cast.

In other words, as long as there are enough materials and how many molds there are, how many muskets can be manufactured in batches in 7 days. ”

Chen Xin nodded, "The speed is not bad, how many molds are there now, and how long will it take for the molds to be made?" ”

Tian Yi took out a small notebook, calculated for a while, and said, "Now there are 30 molds in total, and as for the speed of making molds, about 50 molds can be made every month." ”

Chen Xin calculated, if it went well, he could "good, then go all out to cast the flintlock smoothbore gun." ”

"My lord, I'm afraid not."

Tian Yi hesitated and said, "My lord, I'm afraid it won't work." ”

Chen Xin asked, "Why?" Any questions? ”

Tian Yi said with a wry smile, "It's still an old problem, the steel is not enough, the steel made from the crucible is all used to cast new infantry guns, there is really no extra steel to make flintlock pistols, even if the barrel is wrought iron, but the reed and anvil are all good steel, and the steel required for the whole army to equip flintlock pistols is not a small amount." ”

Indeed, the battle some time ago gave Chen Xin a huge shock, his army must have powerful artillery, the previous infantry artillery range is too close, and the improved infantry artillery must not be saved.

After some discussion, it was finally decided to temporarily produce large-caliber arquebuses, with a barrel caliber of 18.5mm like a flintlock smoothbore gun, and each batch of manufactured batches was sent to the army in a batch, first to solve the problem of having and not having it, and then pursuing better performance.

After that, Chen Xin talked to Tian Yi about the issue of infantry artillery.

"Lao Tian, after the last battle of the pontoon bridge, I told you that the infantry artillery also needs to be improved, and when I was fighting, I found that it was too simple to think before, and the infantry artillery must increase the ability to shoot at long distances."

"My lord, my subordinates remember very well that the first prototype cannon has also been made, please take a look."

Chen Xin was overjoyed and hurriedly urged, "Let's go, go and see." ”

Coming to a clearing, Tian Yi introduced, "My lord, this is our testing ground, which is specially used to test various firearms. ”

As he spoke, he brought Chen Xin to a cannon.

Chen Xin looked at the artillery in front of him, and he couldn't recognize the traces of the previous infantry artillery at all, this was simply reborn, and he couldn't help asking, "Is this an improved infantry gun?" ”

Tian Yi listened to his chest and said, "Yes, my lord, this is the improved infantry artillery." We changed the original tripod to an iron gun carriage with two wooden wheels, and also increased the caliber and thickened the pipe wall. ”

Chen Xin took a breath of cool air, "That's too heavy, there is no way to carry it with two people like before." ”

Tian Yi helplessly explained, "My lord, there is no way, the last time, what you said when you asked me to go to the camp is still vivid, I remember you said at that time, [Tian Yi, do you know, we almost planted the cannon pipe too thin this time. The infantry cannon and the small cannon of the Franc machine were fired together for a long time, but they could not penetrate the enemy's sand boats, and they could only watch the enemy approach, which was a terrible feeling. 】”

Chen Xin remembered what he said to Tian Yi that day, and remembered the battle of the pontoon bridge that day, if the fleet did not arrive in time, then his thousands of people would have been explained to the riverside, and he still had lingering palpitations when he came here first. "That's right, that's what I said, so let's tell me what other changes you've made."

Tian Yi pointed to the artillery in front of him and said, "First of all, we expanded the caliber of the infantry gun to the extent that it can shoot 3 catties of artillery, which is 60 mm caliber according to the measuring tools issued by the adults."

Two hoes were added to the back of the gun carriage to secure the gun shaft when fired.

In addition, an iron detachable guard is added to shield the two gunners in a half-kneeling position behind them.

Finally, we also imitated the Fran cannon and adopted the reloading method of the rear-loading sub-gun. ”

Chen Xin glanced at a few sub-guns next to him and asked, "How did you solve the problem of air leakage in the rear loader?" ”

"I've heard adults say before that copper is very malleable, and it can fit well into the barrel if it is used as a shell and bullet shell, so after testing, we used brass as the material for casting the gun, after all, the gun can be reloaded, there is no waste, as long as you invest some copper coins in advance, you can use it for a long time."

As he spoke, Tian Yi picked up a gun and continued, "My lord, please see, we made the second half of the gun thicker, and then made the gun pipe a lot thinner at the mouth of the gun that extended back 5 centimeters, so that the front part could be stuffed into the barrel and the back part could block the hot gunpowder from leaking out. And of course it's more than that."

Tian Yi said, pointing to the rear of the artillery, a part that is very similar to the bolt-action rifle bolt that Chen Xin had seen in later generations, and said, "We also thought of a way, that is, to add a cannon latch to the back to resist the gun." ”